The “Gartner Magic Quadrant WMS 2019 Report” is extensive. It reviews the company status, strengths, and weaknesses of the leading WMS vendors in the United States and abroad. Unfortunately, the Magic Quadrant only scratches the surface on the capabilities of the WMS solutions offered. Therefore, Gartner publishes a sequential report, the “Gartner Critical Capabilities WMS Report,” to go into further detail about the WMS market and vendors’ services. This year’s follow-on report, published by Business Wire, focuses on the use of analytics and business intelligence (A&BI) platforms that work in tandem with WMS and other supply chain systems.

Key Findings from the Report and Their
Impact on Supply Chain Leaders

The report reveals some key statistics alluding to the sophistication and level of transformation expected in the industry, which includes:

• Up to 50% of analytics queries will take place in automated
  systems by 2020.
• Organizations will continue to develop both internal and external
  A&BI capabilities.
• Data analytics and experts will see field growth three-times
  higher than that of traditional IT.

The advancement of modern WMS platforms, including the integration of such platforms with A&BI functions, triggered the need for more information from Gartner. While visualization of data was once considered best-in-class, it has become standard. Moreover, advanced tools, such as trends analyses, can be performed within self-service systems. This virtually eliminates the need for an on-site data analyst.

What Do the Findings Suggest Will Become the Function of Choice in Today’s WMS Market?

The “Gartner Critical Capabilities WMS Report” reveals leading A&BI-inclusive vendors, such as IBM and Amazon Web Services, appear focused on centralized BI provisioning and agile functions. Not all vendors have hit the mark. Some vendors, such as AWS, have limited global maturities, and other vendors, such as Domo’s platform, offer lackluster embedded analytics. Regardless, all vendors continue building the infrastructure and focusing on the decentralization of A&BI. In other words, more companies can tap the cloud and deploy such systems from their facilities, even with limited use and knowledge of IT and configuration protocols. These vendors are developing platforms and services that are easier to use, have a lower total cost of ownership, and can be launched faster. A single problem remains for all. Warehouses operating legacy systems based on outdated programmings, such as SOAP over RESTful APIs, will face an uphill struggle in implementation. The key lies in building an open-architecture system that integrates with existing systems easier than a traditional, line-by-line integration.

Consider All Capabilities of a WMS
Before Choosing a System and Let an Expert Help

Implementing a new WMS can be hard and choosing an A&BI platform to suit your WMS needs is even more challenging. Failure to properly integrate or connect resources will effectively increase the total cost of ownership of such systems. Instead of trying to go it alone, work with an expert, such as Veridian. Veridian can help you manage and streamline the entire process of system review, selection, implementation, and maintenance. Visit Veridian online to learn more.